Australian PM says challenge against him to fail
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he predicts that a challenge against his leadership of the country will fail and will consolidate his position in the face of criticism.
Speaking in the port city of Sydney on Saturday, Abbott said the so-called “spill motion,” which is a confidence vote brought by backbenchers from his own Liberal Party, which is scheduled for the Tuesday meeting of the governing party, will not succeed.
The vote is reportedly aimed at unseating Abbott and his deputy Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
“Should this spill motion be defeated, as I expect, I will be taking that as a strong endorsement of the existing leadership team, as a vote of confidence in the existing leadership team,” Abbott told reporters, with Bishop by his side, adding, “The last thing any of us should want to do is to reproduce the chaos and the instability of the Labor years.”
Abbott, however, added that the two Liberal backbenchers who had called for the challenge to his leadership were entitled to do so.
Bishop’s take on the vote
The Australian foreign minister, for her part, said she would not support the spill motion to challenge Abbott’s leadership.
“My role as deputy is to support the leader, not to change the leader and I don’t support a spill motion,” she said.
The spill motion comes less than halfway through Abbott’s first term in office. Under party rules, a leadership ballot can go ahead if more than half of the 102 lawmakers back the motion.
Abbott defeated the center-left Labor government in the September 2013 federal election.
His leadership has come under criticism following an unpopular belt-tightening budget, and shifts in a number of policies, including paid leave for new parents.
The 57-year-old politician also faced harsh criticism late last month when he awarded Britain’s Prince Philip a knighthood on Australia Day.
MP/HJL/SS
12 dead, dozens injured in mass shooting at Jewish event in Australia
Japan scrambles fighters to monitor Russia-China 'show-of-force' patrol
Chinese Army calls on Japan to stop its ‘slanderous acts’ amid tensions
12 dead, dozens injured in mass shooting at Jewish event in Australia
‘Cinema Verité’ festival and a new geography of global resistance documentary
VIDEO | Iran seeking ouster of US forces from West Asia region: Analyst
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
BritCard protest march converges on London
Iran Greco-Roman athlete Farrokhi named wrestling phenomenon of year
Iran finishes runner-up at Asian Youth Para Games
Discover Iran: Gonbad-e Qabus, a millennium-old tower of brick and geometry in Golestan
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
